


Something You Earn

by alleinimmer



Series: How Did We Get Here? [9]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst!, Endgame never happened, Explosion, Infinity War never happened, Not exactly Rogue Avengers friendly, Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Violence, lots of swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-11-26 10:28:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20928728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alleinimmer/pseuds/alleinimmer
Summary: "For God’s sake, Tony, I don’t want you dead. I just want your trust.”“You want my trust? You’re gonna have to earn it. Prove to me that you're willing to do whatever you have to do to protect the kid and maybe I'll consider it."-------------An assignment takes a deadly turn for the Avengers, and Steve is forced to make a difficult decision.





	1. What Lies Beneath

**Author's Note:**

> BE WARNED! Can't say it enough, shit WILL GO DOWN IN THIS STORY!

As much as Tony hated to admit it, there was a reason Steve was the one in charge. And not just because he demanded to be and became an uncooperative, petty little bitch if he wasn’t. No, it was far more than that.

It wasn’t the fact that he was enhanced (so were Bruce, and Wanda, and Peter, and compared to what they were capable of, the super soldier serum was hardly awe-inspiring), or a matter of experience either (sure Steve was one of only a handful of their members who had received basic training and whose service in World War II was the stuff of legends...but Rhodey had done far more tours in the Middle East and technically outranked him. Not to mention, Clint and Nat's credentials made his look like a joke. Oh and there was that little tidbit of Thor being a king, but you know. Details.). 

No, the simple fact of the matter was that, unlike the rest of them, Steve had the incredible (and often frustrating) gift of staying completely calm, cool, and collected even in the heat of battle. No matter what was happening, no matter how bad things looked, he never wavered. He never forgot or strayed from what was right. He could look past all distractions and stay on target. He did what had to be done, personal feelings be damned. He was brave. Dedicated. It was something that, as much as Tony hated to admit it, was admirable. 

It still didn't make him any less of an insufferable asshole, though. And listening to him review the logistics of their latest mission for the thousandth time was really starting to grate on Tony’s frazzled nerves.

“Stop. Fidgeting.” He growled through his teeth, watching from the corner of his eye as Peter’s leg bounced hyperactively up and down beside his. “I swear to God, kid, if you don’t stop doing that, I’m gonna lose it.”

“I can’t help it.” Peter whined softly beside him, as, seemingly with great effort, he forced his leg to still. “I’m nervous.”

“Well, get over it.” Tony snapped. “Or else I’ll make you. I know we’ve got some of Cap’s sedatives on board, kid. Don’t test me.”

“Tony? Is there something wrong?” Steve called suddenly, turning away from the holographic projection of their flight pattern. A second projection, detailing Steve’s plan of action, hovered nearby. Tony scowled as the other Avengers turned their attention toward him, some looking thoroughly unimpressed and annoyed and some politely curious. 

“Nothing you haven’t heard before, Cap.” Tony assured him, crossing his arms.

“Remind me again.” Steve said with a frown, looking genuinely concerned. 

“Fury’s an ass, your plan sucks, and this whole thing is a disaster just waiting to happen.” Tony spat at him. 

“Duly noted.” Steve replied flatly as he turned back to the projection. 

Fury had informed them a few days ago that they had received intel about a deserted HYDRA base just outside of New Orleans, which Fury believed might (emphasis on ‘might’) have information that SHIELD could use to its advantage. According to his source, the base was established shortly after Higgins Industries began construction on the D-Day landing crafts, and had continued to operate in secret until Hurricane Katrina had forced them to evacuate. And while Fury had been frustratingly mum on exactly what it was he was after, even Tony could appreciate that sixty years of HYDRA intelligence just might be useful (emphasis on ‘might’, considering the place had supposedly been abandoned in 2005 and any information that had somehow managed to survive the mold and water damage was more than likely extremely outdated and useless). Which, fine. Whatever. They had gone much farther for far less before. And the mission was simple enough - get in, grab what they needed, and get out. Nothing they hadn't already done a thousand times before and hardly anything complicated. 

Except for this time, Peter was with them. And Tony still wasn't entirely over the fact that their last mission had ended with Cho fishing a bullet out of the kid’s chest. A bullet that had been meant for Steve. A bullet that Steve still had yet to take any semblance of responsibility for. And a bullet that Fury seemed to have very little regard for, considering he had refused to let Tony take charge of Peter and instead had pointedly passed that responsibility to Steve. Again. So no, it was far from simple. And Tony was far from cheery about it. 

It wasn’t even two minutes later that Peter’s leg began to bounce again. Tony groaned.

“Kid…”

“Sorry.” Peter said, quickly pulling his legs up and hugging them to his chest. 

Though the remainder of the flight passed uneventfully, Tony’s unease continued to grow exponentially the closer they got. By the time they landed, his nerves were completely shot and he was more than willing to do whatever he had to do to get the whole thing over with as fast as possible. When Steve called them over one last time, Tony nearly put his fist through the wall.

“Alright.” Steve said, fastening the strap of his helmet. “This should be pretty straightforward, but we all know with HYDRA, you never know what to expect, so look sharp. First sign of trouble, call it in over the comms. Everyone clear on what they’re supposed to do?” He waited for a low murmuring of affirmations before he nodded. “Good. Move out!” 

Tony turned, more than eager to get this whole thing over with, when Steve suddenly called him back. “Tony! I’d like a word, please.”

Tony huffed, but dutifully hung back as the others filed out, ignoring the worried look Peter shot him as he passed by. It was only when they were finally alone that he spoke. 

“Really, now? You wanna do this now?” Tony snapped at him. 

“I don’t want to quarrel with you, Tony, I just want to discuss-”

“I’m sorry did you actually just say the word ‘quarrel’? 

“Tony, this is serious-"

“I know. Seriously, who the fuck says ‘quarrel’?”

“Tony.” Steve sighed. He sounded tired. “I can’t keep doing this with you. I can’t keep fighting you. It’s not working. If we’re gonna be a team, we have to find a way to move past this.”

“You’re saying this is my fault?!” Tony spat, disgusted. 

“No-”

“Are you kidding me? Uh, okay, let’s review, shall we? After everything we had been through, everything we built, you were the one who walked away, not me. I did not abandon the team. You did. You were the one who threw it all away, and for what?! For that unstable, brainwashed psychopath who murdered hundreds of innocent people, including my parents!” 

“It wasn’t-”

“And you knew! You knew exactly what he did and you kept that information from me! What gives you the right to decide whether or not I get to know the truth about my parents’ deaths?!”

“Tony-”

“And after everything you did, after leaving me for dead in Siberia, I still protected you from Ross. I did everything I could to keep the UN off your trail and from shutting us down. I was the one who got you pardoned, the one who convinced the UN to rewrite the Accords!”

“I know-”

“I have opened my home to you people. I have provided you with everything you need. I’m here. I’m here, and I’m following your orders. So what exactly is the problem, Rogers? What do you want from me?!” 

“I want it to be like it was before. Please, Tony, just tell me what I have to do to fix it.”

“Fix it? Steve. There’s no fixing this. What you did…” Tony broke off, shaking his head. “You know, there was a time that I thought...I thought I was the last person you would ever betray. But it turns out you’d do it without hesitating. We will never be okay. Do you understand that?”

“I’m sorry. Tony, please, you have to believe me. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t regret what I did.”

“You'll forgive me if I find that hard to believe.” Tony answered coolly. “Where’s Barnes, Steve?”

“I don’t know.”

“Please, spare me. That man has fallen from the face of earth, and after everything you were willing to risk for him, you can’t tell me you don’t know where he is.”

Steve paused for a moment. “I’m trying to help him, Tony.”

“Help.” Tony snorted. “Steve, you need to wake up. Some people can’t be helped.”

“You know, I’ve always thought you were a lot of things, but a defeatist wasn’t one of them.”

“I just know a lost cause when I see one.” Tony said with a shrug. “Kind of like this conversation.”

“I’m not giving up on us.” Steve said quietly. “I’m going to find a way to save our team.”

“You couldn’t even save my kid from a bullet. What the hell makes you think you can save us?”

“I never wanted Peter to get shot, Tony.” Steve murmured. “You know just as well as I do that there are things we can’t plan for and control.”

“Yeah that’s what you want to hear when you’re about raid a HYDRA base.”

“An abandoned HYDRA base.”

“In theory.”

“Tony. I promise you that I will do everything I can to make sure that Peter is safe.”

“Yeah, you’ve made promises before, Cap. Look where it got us.” 

“This is different. I’d give my life for that boy if it means getting your trust back.”

“Yeah? I hate to be the one to break this to you, Cap, but giving up your own life for someone else is actually pretty easy. There are far worse things you can lose. Things that are much harder to give up. What about the success of the mission? Is that something you would give up for him?”

“In a heartbeat.” Steve answered immediately. “I’d do that for any of you.” 

“What about Nat’s life? Or Sam’s? If you had to choose between one of them and Peter, who would you save?”

“That’s not fair-”

“True sacrifice isn’t, Steve, that’s the bitch of it. What about my life? Would you let me die so Peter could live?”

"Tony-" Steve began, looking pained. 

"Come on, I gave you an easy one there.”

“That’s not funny.” Steve snapped, glaring at him when Tony smirked. "For God’s sake, Tony, I don’t want you dead. I just want your trust.”

“You want my trust? You’re gonna have to earn it. Prove to me that you're willing to do whatever you have to do to protect the kid and maybe I'll consider it.”

Steve didn’t answer him. He just studied Tony quietly, and after a long moment, he finally nodded. 

———————

“How’s it looking?”

“Just fan-freaking-tastic.” Tony drawled sarcastically, picking his way cautiously through the brackish, knee-high water, never more grateful for the ventilation filter in his helmet. “Can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be.”

“I can.” Sam grumbled over the comm line. “Literally anywhere else.”

“Seriously though, all bitching aside, has anyone actually found anything even remotely useful?” Clint asked, sounding annoyed. “Or working?” 

“Nothing.” Nat grunted. “I can’t find a damn thing.”

“On the plus side, though, that seems to include HYDRA goons - the place is completely deserted.”

“Yeah, that’s because it’s underwater, birdbrain.” Tony said irritably, wading further into the inner maze of the base. 

“Oh, bite me - !”

“Tony, any luck finding a computer?” Steve interjected quickly.

“Yeah, I hate to break it to you, Ice Pop, but even if I do manage to find one in this rat maze, I doubt it’ll be working.” Tony answered grumpily.

“Keep looking.” Steve ordered. “HYDRA may have had some way of protecting their information.”

“Aye, aye, Captain.” Tony muttered, attention shifting as his HUD informed him that Peter was requesting a private comm line with him. He sighed, and switched over. “What?”

“Mr. Stark, are you okay?” Peter whispered.

“I’d be a hell of a lot better if you’d quit screwing around and focus on the mission, Pete.” Tony snapped at him. 

“But, Mr. Stark-”

“That wasn’t a suggestion.” Tony told him before closing the line. Soon the only sound he heard was the gentle sloshing of water. 

Tony heaved a sigh, turning to shine his light down another long stretch of hallway. In the absolute darkness, the image intensifiers were almost completely useless, as were the thermal imaging cameras without some kind of heat signature, and Fury’s source hadn’t been able to provide them with much about the base itself. From what little Tony knew, it was enormous, stretching endlessly on for miles and miles and burrowing deep underground amid various twists and turns. Navigating it without some kind of help would be impossible, and he already felt like he was wandering aimlessly in circles.

“FRIDAY.” He muttered. “What do you say we go ‘Hansel and Gretel’ on this bitch?”

“Wise decision, Boss.” 

“Think we can tone it down on the sass there, babe?”

“I’m hardly a miracle worker, Sir.”

“Well, not with that attitude you’re not.”

Using the information the suit had collected so far of his progress, FRIDAY immediately went to work constructing him a map of the base. It wasn’t much, but he’d be able to use it to find his way back. With this in mind, Tony continued on, trying to ignore his growing anxiety the farther he went. By the thin beam of his flashlight, he could see that black mold lined the walls like wallpaper. The air seemed stale and cold, and the further he went, the higher the water rose. Every so often, he caught the faint scurrying of rats. It took him almost ten minutes before he finally found a single door along the miserable expanse.

Without waiting to find out whether it was locked, Tony quickly blasted it open and climbed through, shining his light around the small, pitch black room.

“Bingo.” He breathed.

“You find something?”

“Control Tower.”

“Anything working?”

Tony moved closer, inspecting the ancient computers with difficulty in the dim light. None appeared to be working, though to be fair, not a single one was plugged in, as far as he could tell, and all had been piled precariously above the water on desks and file cabinets.

“Not sure.” He said at last. “Give me a minute. FRIDAY, darling? Think you can help me out?”

It took her a minute, but eventually, FRIDAY managed to connect him to the main server. Tony cursed as information began to fill his screen.

“What?”

“Oh, nothing. Just decades and decades of encrypted files all thrown together.” Tony told him. 

“But it’s there?”

“How the fuck should I know?” Tony asked irritably. “I don’t even know exactly what it is that I’m supposed to be looking for. But I’m guessing there’s gotta be something useful buried in here.”

“Can you just decode it?” 

“Cap, it would take me three days to decode this in my lab. The best I can do right now is have FRIDAY download all of it and look at it later. If Fury’s got a problem with that, then he’ll just have to get over it.”

“Wait, Tony-”

“Oh no, you’re breaking up!” Tony called sarcastically over him before quickly hanging up. The last thing he needed was Steve nagging him while he was trying to think. 

He didn’t know whether to be annoyed or impressed when Steve found him just a few minutes later. Annoyed, he decided, as soon as he started talking.

“What are you doing?” Steve snapped, ushering Peter through the busted door before climbing in himself. Though his face was half hidden behind an air filtration mask, Tony could tell he was scowling. 

“My job.” 

“This isn’t-”

“Hey. I don’t know about you, but I wanna get the hell out of here and go home, so if you could just - Peter, hey, don’t touch that! - shut up for once, that would be great.” 

Miraculously, Steve didn’t argue with him. Instead he merely folded his arms and sat back, watching Tony work while Tony did his best to ignore him and the uncomfortable silence that followed. “Okay. There’s only a minute left and then we’re good to go. Peter, goddammit, what did I JUST say-!”

“But that weird light’s blinking!”

“Who cares?!”

“But how is there even a light down here? We’re underwater, the circuitry’s shot, and no one’s been here in over ten years!” 

That gave Tony pause. Now that he thought about it, he couldn’t remember seeing the strange red light when he first found the room. Turning, he moved closer for a better look, gently forcing Peter out of his way. In the dim light, he was having a hard time seeing exactly what it was, but it appeared to be some kind of box.

“What is it?” Steve asked him, sounding uneasy. “A camera?”

“I’m not sure.” 

Hesitatingly, Tony reached out a hand and the suit retracted, allowing his bare fingers to brush the surface, exploring it. It wasn’t until he found a wire that he realized exactly what it was.

“Jesus Christ.” He cursed, scrambling back.

“What? What is it?”

“It’s a bomb!”

“What?!”

“It’s a fucking bomb!”

“Holy sh-!”

“Move!” Steve shouted over the comm, grabbing Peter and shoving him forcibly back into the hall. “Everybody out! Code Black! I repeat, Code Black!”

A chorus of swears sounded off as Tony moved to hurriedly disconnect FRIDAY from the server, just as she had finished downloading the last file. However, the moment he did, two things happened all at once. 

Across the room, a timer suddenly lit up on the bomb. 2:00. And immediately began counting down. And at the same time, a red “Warning!” flashed across the screen of his HUD.  
Tony swore. 

“What is it?! What’s wrong?!” Steve asked him, from where he was still waiting for him at the door.

“Run! Run, go!” Tony shouted at him, kickstarting his repulsors and launching himself into the air. Immediately, Steve whirled around and scooped Peter up in his arms before Tony had the chance. Ignoring the kid’s squawks of protests, he took off like a shot down the halls, Tony hot on his heels.

“What’s our time?!”

“Less than two minutes!”

“I don’t understand- what happened?!”

“It must have been synced to the files.” Tony ground out. “It started counting down once I finished downloading them.”

“I told you-!”

“Oh, yeah, good for you, Spangles!”

“That is so cool!” Peter shouted. “A real life booby trap - just like Indiana Jones!”

“Yeah, Peter, real fucking terrific!”

The sound of water splashing and the roaring of Tony’s repulsors echoed a thousand fold as they barreled through the hallways, with Tony shouting directions to Steve above the clamor.

“How much time?!” 

“One minute! We’re almost there, keep going!”

It wasn’t long before Tony became vaguely aware that one by one, the others were announcing that they had made it out, until finally...they were the only ones left. Everyone else had made it out. And Peter was still with them. And the timer was down to seconds. Tony felt his chest tighten.

As they came hurtling around the corner, they were suddenly blinded by a bright halo of sunlight bursting through the darkness just a couple hundred feet away. The door! It was right there...and they were almost out of time... 

10...9...8…

They weren’t gonna make it.

“Steve!” Tony shouted desperately. 

Steve did his best. He really did. But he still wasn’t fast enough. 

A great boom echoed from deep within the building, and the ground shook violently in its wake, with so much force it threw Steve completely off his feet. Tony reached out, trying to catch him, but was knocked aside by a piece of falling debris. He managed to correct himself just in time to see Steve crashing to the ground with Peter in his arms, rolling with the impact before throwing himself over the kid, shielding him. Tony too came to a stop, hovering over them both, with his arms raised hopelessly to try stop the walls from collapsing down upon them. He held his breath, and steeled himself for the worst. 

But a second passed. And then another...and nothing happened. It was Peter, hyperactive spaz that he was, who finally broke the silence that followed.

“Um. Was that it?”

Tony hesitated, glancing down at the corner of his HUD where the timer had been counting down. It was no longer there. Slowly, he lowered his arms. “Apparently.”

“Wow. Worst. Bomb. Ever.”

“Yes, tragic. I don’t know how I’ll ever get over the disappointment.” Tony said sarcastically, shutting off his repulsors and dropping to the ground. He retracted the helmet, watching as Steve reached out and hauled Peter to his feet.

“You okay, son?”

“The kid’s complaining that the bomb wasn’t death-inducing enough.” Tony scoffed, rolling his eyes. “He’s fine.”

Even so, as much as he hated to agree with the kid on this one, Tony had to admit that had been incredibly anti-climactic. Especially for a group as ridiculously dramatic as HYDRA. Tony turned and took a few hesitant steps back down the hall, staring down at the into the great, maw-like abyss. Was that really it?

And then suddenly, a noise unlike anything Tony had ever heard before shattered the eerie stillness completely. The earth itself seemed to groan, followed by the scream of metal collapsing on itself. Then the ceiling split above them, and thick clouds of dust came raining down as the ground gave one last horrid shudder. 

Time seemed to slow down. Tony turned in time to watch as Peter lunged for him. As Cap's arms flew out and wrapped around him, and then yanked him back. He watched as Peter writhed. He watched as Steve pinned the boy against his chest, holding him in place. Distantly, Tony was aware that Peter was screaming. Screaming for him. Screaming for Tony as though his life depended on it as Steve dragged him back toward the door. 

For the first time that day, Tony breathed easy.

Steve had kept his promise. The kid was safe. That was all that mattered. 

He met Peter's wide, terrified oculars and smiled sadly at him.

And then the world came crashing down around him.


	2. Out of Darkness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come for the heartache...

"LET GO OF ME, YOU BASTARD!" Nat raised a single, perfect eyebrow as Steve hauled a thrashing, fuming Spider-Man aboard the Quinjet, ignoring Clint and Sam as they sniggered at the sight of him panting and struggling to contain the kid. "YOU SON OF A BITCH!" 

"Jeez. Someone needs a nap." Clint chuckled from where he was sitting by the Quinjet’s main communications screen, fiddling with an arrow. “Hey, Steve, Fury’s losing his goddamn mind. He wants you to call him as soon as possible. So good news, you can quit playing babysitter and give the brat back to Tony now.” When Steve didn’t answer, he turned to look more closely at him. “Hey. What’s wrong?”

But Steve remained silent as he wrestled Peter tighter in his hold. His hands were shaking and his lips were white, a dazed, vaguely horrified look on his face as he drifted wordlessly over towards the front of the jet, tugging Peter along with him. 

“Steve?” Clint asked him hesitantly, unfolding himself and getting slowly to his feet, watching as Steve came to an abrupt stop before them. “Is everything alright?”

Steve heaved a sigh and bowed his head, and then shook it slowly a moment later. “No.” He said softly. “No, it’s far from alright.”

“What’s wrong?” Clint demanded, taking a few urgent steps closer. “What happened?”

“Steve.” Nat said suddenly, a strange look flitting briefly across her impassive face. “Where’s Tony?”

Clint and Sam whipped around to look at her with twin expressions of confusion, expressions that slowly became ones of shock, and then fear, as they looked around the Quinjet and realized Tony wasn’t with Steve.

“Steve.” Sam said, turning back around, his voice hard, his tone forceful. “Where is he? Where’s Tony?”

Steve swallowed. “He’s...Tony’s gone, Sam.”

The silence that followed was deafening. No one spoke. No one moved. Everyone seemed completely frozen in horrified disbelief. Even Peter had gone frighteningly still, as though hearing Steve say it aloud had caused all fight to leave him.

“...What?”

“The bomb...we didn’t make it out in time. There was a cave in.” Steve managed, his whole body trembling violently. “Tony he...he went back and...and...I-I don’t know for sure.” Steve admitted. “We were separated. But his commline is down...And I...I can’t connect to FRIDAY.”

With a great sigh, slowly and very unwillingly, he raised his head to meet the horrified gazes of his teammates.

“Tony’s dead?” Sam whispered. 

Steve inhaled deeply. “I don’t know.”

“Oh, God.” Nat breathed, her hands coming up to cover her mouth.

“But we don’t know that.” Clint protested, taking a few steps closer to Steve. “You don’t actually know for sure.”

“Well, no, but-”

“Well, then, what are we just standing here, for?” He demanded. “Come on, we have to find him!”

“Clint-” Steve began. 

“No! We’re not leaving him down there!” 

“Clint, the building collapsed on him.” Steve said softly. “No one could have survived that.”

No one spoke for a long time. 

“No. No, he can’t be.” Clint finally whispered, sinking slowly into a nearby chair. “He can’t just be gone. Not like this.”

Steve loosened one hand from around Peter’s waist, wrapping the other around him more tightly as he covered his face. “I think...I think at this point we might have to assume the worst.” He paused, as though trying to gather himself. “I have to call Fury. He needs to know what happened. And we...we need to get a team out here to try and recover his body. Someone has to...oh, God, Pepper!” He exclaimed suddenly, head shooting up and staring up at the others with absolute horror. “What am I supposed to tell Pepper?!”

Clint buried his face in his hands at his words. Nat clenched her fists, eyes hard. Beside her, Sam stood in rigid silence, still staring at Steve as though he didn’t understand what Steve was saying. As though what he had said was so undeniably impossible that he couldn’t, or refused to, accept it. No one seemed to have an answer for him. And then...

“This is all because of you.”

Steve raised his head and looked over at Peter, who was glaring hatefully at him. 

“What?” He croaked.

“This is your fault.” Peter repeated, just as viciously as before and practically quaking with rage. “Mr. Stark is dead because of you!”

Steve flinched as though he had been slapped. “Peter-”

“No!” Peter shouted, thrashing uselessly in his hold. “You could have saved him! You could have saved him but you didn’t, you coward! He needed you and you left him!”

“Peter, that’s enough.” Nat interjected gently. “I know you’re upset, but this wasn’t Steve’s fault. It was an accident.”

“He left him! He left him there to die!”

“I couldn’t save Tony, Peter.” Steve said softly. “You know I couldn’t.”

“You didn’t even try! You just grabbed me and ran!”

“I had to get you out, Peter. I had to save you.”

“I didn’t need you to save me!” Peter screamed. “I needed you to save him!”

“I promised Tony that I would do whatever I had to do to save you.” Steve told him. “I did not fail Tony, Peter. This is what he would have wanted. He wanted you to make it out no matter what. Even if he couldn’t.”

Peter seemed to choke, and took a half step back from Steve, eyes wide with shock as he stared up at him in horror, and Steve felt a fresh wave of nausea overtake him. Did Peter not know just what he had meant to Tony? Had Tony never got the chance to tell him? Surely he knew - he had to know! Everyone knew! But then again, what did Steve know about Tony anymore? The rift between them...these days Steve felt like he barely knew Tony at all...

Had Steve been the one to take that chance from him?

And then suddenly, without warning, Peter ripped himself from Steve’s slackened grip and leapt to his feet, bolting for the open door.

“Peter, no!” Steve shouted, lunging after him. 

“GET OFF ME!”

“Dammit! Guys, help me!” 

\-----------------

Fury was sending a rescue team to recover Tony’s body. It would take time, he’d told Steve, to gather the people and equipment they needed, and it was important that someone remain behind to secure the area in preparation for their arrival. After much arguing back and forth with the others, Steve reluctantly agreed to stay until SHIELD came, which wouldn’t be until the early hours of the morning. While Nat, Clint, and Sam were planning on remaining behind to help, Steve had no intention of staying any longer than he had to, and the moment the other agents arrived, he was leaving with the kid. The last thing he wanted was for Peter to see them pull Tony’s broken, lifeless body from the wreckage. 

Until then, the Avengers busied themselves with clearing the area and activating the various security protocols Tony had designed to keep them safe - motion sensors with a customizable radius of up to three miles. Facial recognition technology that alerted them anytime someone who wasn’t officially registered with SHIELD strayed too close. Software that immediately encrypted and then forwarded information straight to Fury before becoming irretrievably lost. Things Tony had designed for moments like this, when all hope was lost and the worst-case scenario was upon them. Things they always had but never had to use before. Things that Steve took for granted. Activating them now sent shivers down his spine. 

Steve tried to ignore the feeling of absolute horror that was buzzing through his veins, crawling and clawing just underneath his skin as he worked. Tried to ignore the voice inside his head that was screaming incessantly that Tony was dead, Tony was dead, oh God, Tony was dead!...

He tried to keep himself distracted. Tried to convince himself that figuring out how to access Tony’s security protocols on the Quinjet was a mission. It had always been so easy to put aside his feelings when he had a mission, when there was a clear, attainable goal within reach. He had always been so sure of himself...

Now he just felt lost. Like at any moment the fragile hold he had over himself was going to break, and when it did, it would shatter into a thousand, irreparable pieces. This was it, he knew. This would be the thing that finally ruined the Avengers, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. And he wasn’t sure he wanted to.

The sun had long disappeared over the horizon when the Quinjet’s security alarm suddenly sounded. 

“Perimeter breach!” A detached, robotic voice announced above the wailing siren. “Perimeter breach!” 

Clint sprang to his feet, snatching up his bow with a snarl. “Fuck! I knew it was too good to be true!” 

“Stop whining and turn that off!” Nat snapped at him, quickly loading her gun with a sharp click.

“I’m working on it!”

“Enough!” Steve called over them, in no mood for their bickering. “We’re under attack! We’re likely outnumbered and out-gunned! We can’t afford to make any more mistakes today - we’ve got people counting on us! Whatever it takes, no way in hell are we letting those HYDRA bastards win! Now-!” Steve swallowed thickly. It felt wrong to say it. “-Avengers, assemble!”

Steve glanced nervously back at Peter before he raised his shield and joined the others where they had gathered at the rear door of the Quinjet. He had promised Tony he wouldn’t let anything happen to the kid and he intended to keep that promise, no matter the cost. He caught Nat looking back at him, waiting for his signal, and, heart in his throat, he nodded. This was it.

The floodlights threw an unnaturally bright, harsh glow to the area immediately surrounding the Quinjet, but just outside the blaze, the darkness hung heavy and oppressive. Steve scanned the area.   
“You see anything?” Nat muttered to him, arms locked and her gun pointed decidedly straight ahead. 

“Nothing.” He whispered back, trying to ignore the unease roiling inside him. “Maybe it was just an animal-”

But then suddenly, something stirred in the darkness just beyond, and Steve caught a strange sound beneath the screaming drone of the cicadas. He tensed, struggling to make out the unusual shape skirting just outside the Quinjet’s floodlights.

“10 o’clock.” He hissed. “There’s something out there.”

The others stiffened at his words, guns and arrows swiveling immediately toward the endless black stretch and scanning it hopelessly, barely breathing where they stood, watching and waiting for something, anything, to happen. 

And then suddenly, Steve saw it - just barely, but it was definitely there, a lone figure approaching slowly from the darkness. Nat must have seen it too, because a moment later, she fired without warning.   
A metallic clang echoed in response.

“Lordy! We’re jumpy tonight, aren't we?” A familiar, sarcastic voice called out from the darkness, clearly torn between exasperation and amusement. “Look, if you’re gonna shoot me, do me a favor and make it count, will you? I can just feel Spangles gearing up for another one of his judgy lectures and I’m really not in the mood.”

“Tony?” Nat called out to the darkness, hesitatingly lowering her gun.

“The one and only.” The figure had finally stepped into the light - dented, damaged, red armor. Hair flecked with dust and dirt. Grime and blood, and a dazzling, shit-eating grin. “Miss me?”

“Oh my God, Tony!” 

Tony stiffened noticeably when they came charging out to meet him, but he suffered their reception as graciously as he was clearly capable, rolling his eyes and huffing good naturedly, even as Clint tackled him. 

“Alright, alright, enough.” He grumbled after a while, pushing them away. “Clint, get off. Okay, I get it!”

He straightened just as Steve was beginning to make his way slowly down the jet’s ramp, staring at Tony as though he had never seen anything like him. Tony cocked an eyebrow at him. “What’s up, Capsicle? Disappointed I’m back?”

Steve didn’t answer him. He just grabbed Tony and pulled him into a hug, clapping him on the back as he did.

“God, don’t you people have any faith in me at all?” Tony grunted. “You really think a few rocks are enough to stop Iron Man?”

“I mean, it’s not like you’re Vibranium Man...” Steve told him, grinning. 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, everyone’s a critic.” Tony groused as Steve finally released him, but immediately sobered when he caught Steve’s eye. “Thank you.”

“For what?” Steve asked him, frowning. “You could have died and I did nothing to help you.”

Tony shook his head. “You got the kid out. That’s all I could ask for.” He looked around. “Where is the little shit, anyway? I thought for sure he’d be the one leading the welcoming party.”

He was met with awkward silence. 

“...Um.” Steve eventually muttered guiltily, and Tony immediately whipped around to face him again, eyes narrowing.

“What? What’s wrong? Where’s the kid?”

“Tony, he’s fine. He’s on the Quinjet-”

Tony shoved him aside and sprinted up the ramp, ignoring Steve as he shouted after him. 

It didn’t take him long to spot Peter, tucked beneath a thin cotton blanket on the medical cot in the far corner. Tony approached him warily, staring at the unusually still boy, at his pale and unmoving face. He nudged him gently. “Peter? Buddy?”

Peter gave absolutely no reaction at all. Shooting Steve a suspicious look, Tony nudged him a little more roughly, and recoiled when Peter’s head lolled limply to the side. 

"You drugged my kid?!" Tony shouted incredulously, whirling around to glare at Steve, who shifted sheepishly under his thunderous gaze.

"Tony, we had to!" Steve told him, and Tony scoffed. “Believe me, he didn’t give us a choice!” 

“Unbelievable.” Tony growled, shaking his head in disgust before plopping down in the single chair by Peter’s head. “It really is one step forward, two steps back with you isn’t it, Rogers?”

“Tony-”

“Look.” Tony sighed heavily, pinching his brow. “I think we can all agree that we’ve had what some might call ‘a rough day’. Or Tuesday, as it’s known to us. So what do you say we just let bygones be bygones and forget the fact that you roofied the team mascot-”

“I only did it because I didn’t have any other choice!”

“God, do you ever get tired of that line?”

“Tony-”

“Steve.” Tony said, looking up at him. “Please. I just want to go home.”

\------------------

About an hour into their flight home, Peter finally began to stir. Tony watched, relieved, as the kid shifted restlessly on the bed, mumbling quietly to himself as his lashes fluttered and then finally opened. 

For a moment, Peter simply laid there, blinking sleepily and squinting up at the glaring overhead lights, still very clearly disoriented and half-asleep. Tony waited, but after a few moments, Peter’s eyes slipped closed again, and Tony forced himself to sit back. Evidently, the kid wasn’t quite as with it as he’d thought or even hoped, and he wasn’t going to try and force him into consciousness, especially if the drugs weren’t fully out of his system yet.

But then suddenly, Peter let out a single, wild gasp, and he bolted upright for a few brief seconds before flopping bonelessly back down on the cot again, his head landing at awkward, unnatural angle.

Tony jerked forward, worry flaring somewhere deep within his chest as he studied Peter’s unmoving, silent form. Tony couldn’t quite see Peter’s face anymore, and he wasn’t sure what was going on, but he knew something wasn’t right. What was happening? Was the kid hurt? Was it the drugs? He wasn’t sure, but whatever was going on, he knew he didn’t like it. 

And then, Peter’s shoulders began to tremble, and a single, broken sob escaped him before he slowly brought his hands up to his mouth, covering it, his chest convulsing violently with each and every ragged breath he drew.

Tony could only watch, stunned and frozen in horror, as Peter continued to sob silently behind his hands, his entire body wracking in great, terrible spasms as he tried to force himself to stay quiet. Every so often, a horrible, choking sound would erupt from him, but Peter was quick to swallow it forcibly back down. It almost sounded like he couldn’t breathe. Tony had never seen Peter cry like this before, so hard and violently and all the while trying to hold himself together…

It wasn’t right, Peter crying like that, and it stirred something deep inside Tony, something he had never felt before he’d met Peter but something he was becoming more and more familiar with ever since, and he was desperate to do anything to make him stop. Hesitantly, he reached out for him.

"Peter." He murmured gently, fingers brushing against his curls. “Stop.”

Peter flinched violently, and then went very, very still. Tony didn’t dare move as, slowly, ever so slowly, Peter lowered his hands and craned his neck to look back behind him, wide, tear-filled eyes staring up Tony in shock. Tony met his gaze evenly, forcing himself to stay calm as he took in Peter's red rimmed eyes, the tear tracks down his cheeks. The disbelief, the wonder, hope, and fear all written so plainly on his face. Tony smirked at him.

"Come on, kid. You didn’t really think you could get rid of me that easily, did you?" 

Rather than answer him, Peter simply burst into tears at his words, and clearly he had no intention of holding them back this time. Loud, ugly sobs ripped through the air as the boy gulped and gasped, struggling to speak.

"Y-you're r-r-really here?" He eventually managed, trembling fingers swiping clumsily at his eyes. "I'm not...dr-dreaming?"

"Yeah, kid, I’m really here." Tony assured him, slowly pushing himself up from the chair and moving to sit beside Peter on the bed. He threw an arm around the boy, pulling him close as Peter buried his face in Tony’s shoulder and continued to sob. Tony squeezed him gently, and ran a hand through his hair. "Come on, Underoos. Calm down." 

But Peter had never listened to Tony before. And evidently, he had no intention of starting now. And for the first time that he could remember, Tony found that he didn’t really mind. 

"Easy." He murmured. "Easy. Come on, kid, you know I hate crying. Especially from you.”

“S-sorry!” Peter sobbed. “I’ll stop!”

Tony sighed and shook his head, waiting for Peter to calm down. He had no idea what made him do it, but a moment later Tony found himself rocking gently back and forth, and though Peter whimpered in protest, he made no move to pull away. It took a minute, but eventually the sobs died down, and it was only then that Tony finally leant down and kissed the top of his head. 

“You’re alright.”

“N-no!” Peter hiccuped and Tony couldn’t help but chuckle at the childish response.

“Yes, you are. Come on, bud, what’s the problem?”

Peter didn’t answer him, and instead just buried his face further into Tony’s shoulder. Tony nudged him again. “Hmm? Come on, Half-Pint, talk to me.”

“I thought...I thought you were dead.” Peter finally admitted, so softly that Tony almost didn’t catch it.

“Please. Cap only wishes he were that lucky.”

“It’s not funny!” Peter protested, sniffling as he wiped his eyes again. “You really could have died!”

“But I didn’t.”

“But you could have!”

“Look, kid. We can argue back and forth like this all day. What do you say we just enjoy the fact that I’m here and everything turned out fine?”

“You’re supposed to come back no matter what.” Peter told him, as though Tony hadn’t spoken at all. “You have to! You have to promise you’ll always find a way to come back!”

“You know no one can promise you that, Peter.” 

“Can you just try? For me?”

Tony sighed. “Fine. Just for you, kid, I’ll try.” 

Peter nodded against him, and then fell silent. Across the room, Tony was aware that Nat was trying (and failing) to hide a smile, while Clint and Sam was grinning openly at them. Tony glared at them over the top of Peter’s head.

“Something wrong?”

“Not at all.” Clint told him, still smirking. “It’s just…it looks good on you.”

“What does?” Tony snarled at him.

“Going soft.” Sam piped up.

Tony huffed and flipped them off, ignoring them when they dissolved into idiotic giggling, and instead turned his attention back to Peter. He had been so focused on ignoring them that he failed to notice the eyes that were watching him and Peter from on the other side of the Quinjet.

Steve gazed at them for a moment longer, and then turned back to Fury, who was watching them without expression from the communications screen.

“Please tell me that you understand why you can’t ask me to be in charge of that boy anymore.” Steve asked him.

“Please tell me that you understand why it would be such a horrible idea to have Stark in charge of him.” Fury sighed back, shooting him a look.

“Fury.”

“Oh, believe me, I know I don’t stand a chance against both your and Stark’s bitching.” Fury assured him, looking thoroughly annoyed. “But I’m telling you, Stark should not be in charge of that boy - he’s too close. He can’t be trusted to think rationally when that boy is his priority. Do you understand that? That he will do whatever needs to be done to keep the kid safe? Whatever the cost. Whether it’s the mission, or the team. Or even you.”

“I know.” Steve told him, watching as Tony and Peter continued to whisper back and forth to one another. “Which is all the more reason that the kid’s best shot is with Tony.”

“It’s a bad idea.”

“I thought we’d established that.”

“I don’t like it.”

“I’d be worried if you did.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...stay for the fluff
> 
> This really wasn't my best, but hopefully someone enjoys it.
> 
> Also:
> 
> So I just want to clarify - I knew this series comes off as very anti Team Cap, but I am trying to skew it so that we're getting everything more from Tony/Peter's perspective, which would be more pro Team Iron Man. With the events of Civil War, I though both Tony and Cap had some very valid points regarding the Accords and that they both could have handled it better. I do, however, find Tony a lot more relatable than Cap, and had an easier time writing from his perspective.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry...or am I?
> 
> The next part will be dealing with the aftermath of the explosion. It is written, but I still need to edit. No clue when it will be up, but hopefully I'll have it done in 2 weeks? 
> 
> There are only three stories left in the series (or four, depending on if I decide to break the last one up into 2 parts or keep it as one long one). As always, please let me know what you think!


End file.
